


Done Deal

by Menoetius



Category: Silent Witness (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Angst, First Kiss, First Time, Harry Cunningham Needs A Hug, Leo Dalton Needs A Hug, M/M, Post-Episode: S13E06 Run, Romance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25051123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Menoetius/pseuds/Menoetius
Summary: A terrible week. A bag of fish and chips. A couple of old friends.Post-ep for Run (Series 13, Episodes 5 and 6).
Relationships: Harry Cunningham/Leo Dalton, Leo Dalton/Janet Mander (past), Leo Dalton/Theresa Dalton (past)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Done Deal

**Author's Note:**

> Although this is a post-ep, it's really my attempt to deal with the whole of the events of Series 13 up to the end Episode 6 (Part 2 of Run) and it's canon-compliant until that point. There are more notes at the end outlining what was going on in Series 13 (it was a _lot_ ) and it's probably comprehensible without having seen the episodes, but I think it works better if you have. Also, Series 13 was amazing and is currently available for free on BBC iPlayer. 
> 
> It descends rapidly into tooth-rotting fluff and romance.
> 
> As a background note, I've been rewatching the first couple of series with William Gaminara and Tom Ward, back when Amanda Burton was in it, and my God but they were adorable together. I'm unlikely to ever be able to write them together until after Theresa dies in Series 9, but Harry Cunningham has a crush on Leo that can be _seen from space_ , from the _very first day_ , and I will die on that particular hill.

Leo leaned against the door. Harry had spent three days in frenzied activity, and had finally come to a standstill. He had come through to the main office just as he put down the phone, and for the past ten minutes had been waiting, watching patiently, as his best friend sat, motionless, contemplating, he suspected, the awfulness and unfairness of the universe.

When the muffled sob broke free, he was across the room in three steps and catching Harry in his arms.

Harry made a single attempt to check his tears, to choke back his sobs.

"It's all right," Leo said softly. "C'mon, Harry. It's me. It's fine."

And held him while he at last let it all go.

He couldn't have said how long they stood there for. Harry giving in to his grief and rage, Leo rubbing his back and murmuring into his hair.

Eventually, Harry sniffed and drew back. "'m sorry," he said, voice cracking.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry for."

"I've got snot all over your shirt."

Leo shrugged. "It'll wash," he said.

Harry took the offered handkerchief and mopped himself up and, from behind it, asked, "How did you know?"

"Nikki." He added: "You never talk about him."

"I know," said Harry. "And d'you know, until the last couple of days, I didn't even really realise that I'd stopped. I don't even think I really know how to, now."

"I'm here," said Leo, quietly. "If you want to."

* * *

"I should call Janet," said Harry, ten minutes later, from the passenger seat of Leo's car. "Let her know that I've kidnapped you."

Leo shook his head. "I'm staying with my sister for a few days."

Harry turned in his seat, frowning. "But – "

Leo took a breath and steeled himself. He'd known that this conversation would come eventually, but he hadn't quite planned to have it yet. "It's over. Me and Janet."

" _What_?"

"It's been over for a while, I think. I've been staying in the spare room; she was good enough not to throw me out while I was still recovering. But this week with me being back at work it became clear that that wasn't really fair to her. So." He made a gesture with his shoulders.

"But why would she -- "

"She didn't. It was all me." Leo kept his gaze on the road. "I had a lot of time to think," he said. "In those weeks I spent in hospital. About what I want to do with the rest of my life, and the chances I haven’t taken, and the people I love."

Harry was staring at him. "And Janet -- "

Abruptly, Leo pulled the car into an illegal parking space close to a small row of restaurants and a late-night Tesco. "I'll be back in a tick," he said. "You wait here, and keep an eye for traffic wardens."

* * *

Harry opened a bottle of wine and they ate the chips at his kitchen table, out of the paper, sharing the bag.

"You know, when you said that you'd take me home and make me supper -- "

Leo grinned. "Complaining?"

"No chance," said Harry, tearing the last piece of fish in half and pushing the smaller piece over to him. "Remember when you promised to cook for me during the – that case, with the guy who came after Sam? And you tried to murder me with fossilised pesto, and then we ended up just eating all the cheese you had in the fridge?"

"I'd forgotten about that." Leo laughed, remembering. "That was the first time you fell asleep on my sofa."

"It seemed to set something of a precedent," said Harry. "For a while. Until. Well."

"I've missed you," said Leo simply.

Harry flushed, and looked down at his dinner. "I haven’t had proper fish and chips in years," he said. "I used to go to Eastbourne in the summer with mum and dad, when I was really little, when they still came in proper newspaper, and we'd eat them on the beach."

"What was he like?" asked Leo.

"Dad?" He thought about it. "How much did Nikki tell you?"

"Not that much. I got the impression that she didn't know it all herself. If you don't want to -- "

But Harry told him the story, from the beginning, the whole of it. From the ring on his mother's lover's finger while they had all played cricket on the beach to his father's suicide to the last few days, ending with James's suicide. "My memories of him are a child's memories," he said, finally. "To me, he was this – like Superman, almost, but if Superman did all the voices when he read Winnie the Pooh and never missed your school sports days."

He laughed, damply, and Leo squeezed his fingers. "You _were_ a child," he reminded him. "It's all right that you still think of him that way."

"I must have known that he wasn't always like that, that there was another side to him," said Harry. "But it's not what I remember. I was angry with my mum, the other day, for – for tarnishing those memories, I suppose, but I don’t think it was even her I was angry with." He looked at Leo. "I think I'm angry for not getting the chance to find out for myself what he was like, what kind of relationship I'd have had with him as an adult."

"I know."

"It's stupid, he's been dead for twenty years, but I just -- I miss him."

"I _know_ , Harry." Leo used the fingers of his free hand to tilt Harry's chin up so that they could look one another in the eye. "I know it's hardly the same, but -- "

"Cassie," said Harry.

Leo shrugged. "She'd be seventeen."

"I'm sorry."

"Why?" Leo sounded surprised. "It isn't your fault. If anything, there were days when you were the only reason I came out the other side of it -- for both of them."

"No, I didn't mean – "

"No, I know what you meant," said Leo. "I think about it, though – about what you said, about not knowing what kind of relationship you'd have had with him as an adult. I mean, I'm sure she'd hate me, and I wouldn't understand her music, and I'd disapprove of her boyfriends or her girlfriends, and she'd slam doors, and she'd tell me I'd never get any of it because I'm just so old and past it, but -- " He smiled, wistfully. "It would've been nice to find out, you know?"

"Yeah." Harry tore his eyes from Leo's. "I know."

* * *

By silent mutual consent they had moved the conversation onto other topics, before being real and honest turned into being drunk and maudlin. They had covered childhood scars, and the trials of having lived with your mum as a junior registrar (for Harry) compared with the trials of returning to your big sister's couch as a supposedly established grown man (for Leo), and books they had read and films they had seen, and first kisses, and the antics of Harry's latest group of medical students.

It felt easy, and right. Harry realised, eyes resting on Leo's face, that the odd sensation at the back of his mind was happiness, or something like it.

"I've missed you, too," he said, finally starting to tidy cutlery and chip paper.

They had both lost track of time, but the late summer sun had long since vanished from his kitchen windows. His words hung in the silence.

"I meant to tell you," he went on. "I mean, I did tell you, when I thought you were – you know."

"Dying," said Leo.

"Yeah."

He turned away from the sink, wineglass in hand. Leo moved forward and topped it up, unasked. "I never did say thank you," he said. "For being there. For all that."

"Not as much as I should have been," said Harry. "Not as much as I would have been, if I hadn't been -- well, being stupid. I called you a lot of things, that week, but I also told you that if you survived, I would tell you that you are my best friend, and that I love you, and that I will absolutely kill you if you ever put me through anything like that again. And then you did survive, and I never quite knew how to say it."

Leo looked a little stunned. "You said it fine," he said, softly.

They watched one another for a long moment, Harry still leaning against his worktop. Twice, Leo looked as if he was about to say something and then as if he had thought better of it.

"Are you about to make a pass at me?" asked Harry, finally, a half-tease lightening his voice, intending to break the sudden gravity between them.

And it would have been the easiest thing in the world; for Leo to break eye contact, to snort, to move back and finish clearing away the remnants of their supper.

Instead, he put down the wine bottle, let his eyes flick down to Harry's mouth.

"I'm thinking about it."

Harry's breath caught in his throat.

"Interested?" asked Leo, aiming for casual and missing by a mile.

It had been a long time since Leo had been reeled in by the tie and kissed. He was dimly aware of the clatter of Harry's glass as it was dumped unceremoniously in the sink.

Harry's mouth was warm and affectionate, and Leo had the irreverent thought that it felt as if he had been being kissed by Harry for years. His toes curled inside his shoes from the sweetness of it. And then Harry's tongue licked into his mouth and in short order it all went from sweet and affectionate to hot and slick and demanding, and Leo curled his fingers into Harry's hips just so that he could keep upright.

When they broke apart, Harry was grinning – had been grinning into the kiss, too, Leo realised, recalling the shape of Harry's mouth against his. He brought his hand up to finger the beginnings of stubble burn on his cheek, and was knocked off guard by a jolt of arousal.

"God," he said.

"You can call me Harry," said Harry.

Leo snickered, and Harry smirked, and they met one another's eyes, and before Leo had had a chance to process any of it they had collapsed into giggles, holding one another up.

As they caught their breath, Leo said, into Harry's hair, hardly able to believe that he _was_ saying it, "So, that – was that a yes?"

He waited for Harry to pull away.

He choked on air when instead of felt the sensation of lips on one eyelid, and then another.

He opened his eyes.

Harry's were very close and very warm.

"Yeah," said Harry, kissing the corner of his mouth. "Leo, it's always been a yes."

* * *

Leo woke to the sound of rain, to a thin, grey light slanting through the bedroom blinds, and to an empty but still-warm bed.

He didn't _think_ Harry would have run out of his own flat in the middle of the night, but --

His nose caught the faint waft of coffee on the air.

* * *

"What time is it?"

Harry was in the kitchen, dressed in boxers and Leo's shirt, cafetiere and kettle in hand. When Leo's arms slid around his waist, he sank back into it, and Leo felt his heart trip and fall over.

"Early," said Harry. "I was going to bring your coffee back to bed. Did you think I'd run out on you?"

The man knew him too well. "Maybe, just for a second."

He hooked his chin over Harry's shoulder, and Harry's head turned. Leo gave the kiss willingly, feeling something like relief.

"Just after you for a shag?" Harry murmured.

Leo huffed a laugh against his mouth. "I didn't really think you'd even want that," he said. "I mean, I did. Sometimes. Maybe. Back – " He waved a hand. "Before. And then I convinced myself it was all in my head."

"So we were just going to flirt and pull one another's pigtails for the rest of our lives and never get around to the good bits, is that it?"

"You don't flirt with me."

Harry turned around in his arms, and laughed. "Yes," he said. "I do."

"Since when?"

"Since – " He tried to count on his fingers. "How long've we known each other?"

Leo looked thoroughly nonplussed. "Oh."

"And at first it was only flirting – well, flirting, and a crush the size of Mount Everest – "

Leo snorted, laughing properly. "You did _not_ have a crush on me."

"Ask Sam."

"Really?"

"I mean, we never talked about it, but she wasn't blind." He rolled his eyes. "Leo, you're intelligent and passionate and kind and sharp and gorgeous and kind of a nerd. Which part exactly is supposed to not be my type?" Harry ducked his head. "I'd never have done anything about it," he said. "You -- Well. I'd give them back to you, if I could. Both of them. You know that, right?"

Leo swallowed hard, and closed his eyes. "Yeah," he said, suddenly choked up. "Yeah."

"Tell me what this is," said Harry.

He opened his eyes again.

"I don't mean -- I'm not asking for a ring and a happily ever after," he added in a hurry. "I'm saying yes. There was no chance I was ever going to say no. I was a done deal a long time ago, and I've wanted you for longer than I've had any right to, but -- if this is a rebound shag for you, that's fine, but you have to tell me now."

And Leo really _was_ nonplussed. "From _Janet_?" he asked.

Harry's eyebrows did something that said, 'well, _obviously_ '.

"I said," said Leo. "Last night. In the car."

It took Harry a minute to deconstruct that. A minute in which Leo had to try very hard not to kiss the furrow away from between his eyebrows.

"You mean – " said Harry slowly.

"Yes."

"You broke up with Janet for me." He looked stunned. "That's a hell of a responsibility, Leo. What if I'd turned you down?"

"Harry, this isn't an obligation."

"No." Harry cupped Leo's jaw in his fingers and kissed him. "I know that, and if you don’t know by now that that's not why I'm here, you haven't been listening. But – "

"It wasn't for you, exactly," he said. He had had a version of this conversation with Janet, too. It wasn't any easier the second time around. "It was for me. And for her, too – I think she thinks this makes me a sanctimonious git, and probably it does, but she deserves better than being someone's second best."

"And I'm – "

"Yes."

"And you – "

" _Yes_."

"And she knows?"

"I thought about it," said Leo, not quite answering the question. "Back before I met her. I thought about just – asking you out."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." He shrugged. "I never did it, of course – kept getting three words in and chickening out. But I did think about it. I never thought it would happen the way it did last night," he said. "In my head, I'd have asked you when we were both properly awake, and I'd have made it clear that it was a date, because out of the two of us I'm not the most oblivious one, no matter what you say."

Harry kicked him gently in the shins.

Leo went on: "We would have gone somewhere that wasn't a crime scene, although with your track record I'm sure it would have been by the time we left. And then -- I suppose we'd have seen where things went."

"But you didn't."

"I didn't," he agreed. " I met Janet, and I liked her, and I thought I could be happy with her, and I thought it was about time I got over the man I'd fallen in love with who I thought would never love me back. And then I nearly died, and she told me about the nights you spent with me in ICU, and I thought – maybe I was wrong, before." He looked at Harry. "And even if I wasn't wrong, I knew I hadn't stopped loving you."

"Leo."

"If for the rest of our lives all I could have been was your best friend, I'd have taken that and it would have been worth it," said Leo. "But you asked me what this is, and I was a done deal for you a long time ago too."

Harry's was silent.

"Harry."

"Wow," he managed, croaking.

Leo closed his eyes and tried to ignore his pulse hammering in his ears. "We should probably have had this conversation before we went to bed together."

"Or six months after," said Harry. "I think most people – you know – date. A little bit. Before."

"Yeah," said Leo. "I'm s – "

Harry interrupted him: "I'm not."

A thumb brushed his bottom lip, and he opened his eyes. Harry was watching him with eyes that held something that Leo was scared to name. The kiss was brief and gentle, but it left Leo as breathless as if he'd just run a marathon.

"I thought I might've scared you off," he admitted.

"You're not that scary," said Harry, close, grinning. His face looked younger than Leo thought it had in years. "I thought I'd made myself pretty clear, but since you _are_ the more oblivious one of the two of us, yes, I love you and I've been in love with you forever."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," said Harry, kissing him again. "Always."

Leo's mouth curved into a broad smile against the side of Harry's neck. "Last night was amazing," he murmured. "That was what I came down here to say to you."

"Yeah." Harry's smile turned pensive. "You want to try it again?"

* * *

By the time they got round to the coffee, it was stone cold.

**Author's Note:**

> So, Series 13.
> 
> It began with an investigation into a life insurance scam, which led to Leo being attacked and almost killed by a traumatic brain injury. The things that came out in that episode _in the actual episode_ included Harry and Leo having a fight and Harry thinking it was reasonable to ask mid-argument whether the fact that he supports Leo means that they're sleeping together; and then, later, the fact that Leo designated Harry and Nikki, not Janet, as his joint welfare powers of attorney. This leads to a long scene where Harry holds vigil alone in the middle of the night, holding Leo's hand and trying to work out whether Leo would want him to turn his ventilator off and let him die. The conversation he has with Leo is raw and real and heartbreaking. Irrespective of what I think their relationship could be off-screen, these two men mean everything to each other.
> 
> Also, because he believes with all his heart that she's the good guy, Harry is sleeping with the person who scammed the life insurance company and who was probably behind Leo's attack. Because he's Harry. 
> 
> Leo is mostly absent during the second pair of episodes in the series, still recovering from his injury. Except for the part where he and Harry go for a romantic walk on Hampstead Heath and Harry gets him to exploit his old professional connections so that he can fly to Prague and prove Nikki wrong about something.
> 
> Leo returns to work at the beginning of _Run_ , and works his first case back. The case itself is largely irrelevant, but he clearly finds coming back to work more difficult than he expected and things are strained between him and Janet. In the meantime, Harry's mum turns up at the Lyell Centre when a family friend of the Cunninghams dies and he learns that the man and his mum had an affair -- initially, after Harry's dad's suicide, but, later, she admits that the affair had been going on for longer than that. She tells Harry some difficult truths, and they fight, and Harry talks with heart-breaking honesty about how affected he still is by the loss of his father. Tom Ward is _magnificent_ in this episode.
> 
> It was a lot. It was great. You should watch it.
> 
> And Harry and Leo never really talk about any of it on-screen. So. 
> 
> Oh, also, the thing about the fossilised pesto is true, from Series 7. Leo really can't cook.


End file.
